Despite continued opposition from some, Haywood County commissioners appear headed for a May 7 final vote for a new $35 million justice center that apparently will be located downtown, in all likelihood will have a parking deck, and will probably front Main Street.

The historic courthouse and new justice center architects met Friday (April 27) with architects to look at three draft proposals. A public meeting was held Tuesday (May 1) to inform the public of the current plans.

HLM Design presented three draft plans Friday - one on Main Street connected by an atrium to the historic courthouse, another on Main Street that had grass between it and the historic courthouse, and the other behind the historic courthouse.

“I think the board would suggest you move it back off Main Street some,” said county board Chairman Jim Stevens. “This board is going to make the ultimate decision.”

The two Main Street plans were very similar. Those two plans, however, were strikingly different from one architects drew up after Commissioner Mary Ann Enloe said residents deserved to see a plan that did not have a parking deck and did not overshadow the existing courthouse.

“I am philosophically bothered that we have to base our courthouse on parking spaces. I have a problem with that,” said Enloe, referring to the need for parking that is driving the plan for a parking deck. The deck is estimated to cost up to $5 million, but Enloe’s alternative plan would provide about 204 parking spaces. The plans with the parking deck would provide up to 390 spaces.

Enloe’s desire for an alternative plan is partly in deference to a growing groundswell of public opinion for a way to save money on the project. A few months ago Commissioner Wade Francis suggested the county could save money by moving the project off Main Street and out of the downtown area. As far back as the county commission election last October, many questioned the expense and the need for the new justice center.

Now, Austin Swanger and Dave Curphey, two men long active in county politics who both ran for county board seats in the last election, are part of a group that has scheduled a series of meetings to let the public express their opinions on the justice center.

“We’ve just got a lot of questions that haven’t been answered,” Swanger said.

“The procedure is part of my personal concern,” said Swanger, who served two terms on the county school board. “The process of absolutely shutting the public out, that is wrong.”

Swanger and others say there should have been more public input sessions since county taxpayers will foot the bill for the new facility.

He also questioned cost estimates and the financing method that will be used to pay for the facility.

“There are a lot of people who just don’t think this is a very well thought-out plan,” Swanger said.

He said commissioners need to tell the public if they plan to raise property taxes to pay for the project.

 

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